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Friday, February 11, 2011

Farewell Nokia

Wow, now that's a nasty surprise that Nokia sprang on me. Just last week I decided that I'd replace my 3 year old Blackberry with a Nokia phone. I badly wanted a functional phone based on good quality hardware. My Blackberry (I had it on a rip-off contract with Bell Canada, but that's another story) has been a complete and utter disaster as far as the hardware is concerned. It effectively stopped working reliably about 8 weeks after I received it. Courtesy of Bell's 'warranty' mechanism ('Bell Canada warranty' is a contradiction in terms) I ended up receiving recycled and likely older phones than my new phone back from their 'repair' people. Goes without saying that my Blackberry essentially never worked properly. You try explaining that to Bell call centre person who barely speaks or understands English... - Anyway, I digress, so while I love the Blackberry keyboard, I would never again get another Blackberry, simply because I know now that these phones are manufactured so badly. IPhone is a no-brainer, their reception sucks and that's all that I need to know.

Well, once upon a time I was young, and in those long bygone times Nokia phones were pretty much the best. Turns out that the latest reviews suggest the same of their latest smartphone. Problem is that there's not gazillions of 'apps'. Truth be told, I don't need apps permitting me to switch my TV on from my mobile phone or to flush me toilet while I'm in the car, using said mobile phone. I need my mobile essentially for three purposes: phone calls, email and internet browsing. Nokia's phone does all that well, and it has better hardware than any other available smartphone (eg it boasts a 12MP camera). So, there I was bent on buying this phone - much to the amusement of blackberry/iphone using folks around me.

Too bad that's all history. Nokia's CEO has decided to tie Nokia's superb hardware to truly crappy software, namely Microsoft's. No wonder, given that said CEO is a former Microsoft executive. A German newsmagazine rightly suggested that these two turkeys won't make an eagle.

Any suggestions re a good smartphone that ain't Blackberry, Nokia or Apple and that does the three things that I'm keen on, do let me know!

You can't tell me that Microsoft's software is crappier than the appalling Symbian junk that Nokia has hurled at its customers in recent years. Even old Windows mobile phones were (are!) better than that.

Windows Phone 7 is anything but "crappy". I'm an Android user myself, as I like to tinker, but I've handled a few Windows Phone 7 devices and they are IMO the easiest-to-use phones currently on the market in terms of core functionality (calendaring, built-in search, contacts, photo management and of course calling).

Maybe you haven't used or seen the new operating system - I dunno. But Microsoft bashing was old a decade ago, and now it's just silly.

I'm not a huge fan of the company's ethos or internal politics but that has jack to do with the merits of their software.

That comment about "two turkeys not making an Eagle" was not made by a German newsmagazine, but was a Tweet from Vic Gundrota, Google's Vice President of Engineering. Perhaps he was having a touch of sour grapes because Nokia didn't choose Android after the negotiations with Google...

@Geoff: Like many other of Google's senior ranks, Vic worked at Microsoft a long time (16 years in his case). In particular Vic was in charge of driving the platform for that particular "turkey" for a long time.

Greetings from sunny RSA. I think you're right that Nokia has just sunk itself. Pity they didn't carry on with Meebo.The Samsung Galaxy S with Android works well for what you want it to do. The Motorola smart phones also run Android. I have always preferred the Motorola interface to Nokia.In the latest Greenpeace green electronics survey the Sony Ericsson Aspen (M1i) came 1st, the Samsung GT-S8500(Wave) 3rd -if you agree with their criteria.Enjoy the consuming.Ute (a Kleinsmidt connection)